page_title: Stanley-Whitman House
section_title: Museum
hierarchical_section_title: Stanley-Whitman House / Museum
caption_attribution_description: Stanley-Whitman House, 37 High Street, Farmington (Hartford County, Connecticut) (cropped)
context_page_description: The Stanley-Whitman House is a historic house museum at 37 High Street in Farmington, Connecticut. Built ca 1720, it is one of the oldest houses in Farmington. A well-preserved saltbox with post-medieval construction features, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
context_section_description: In September 1935, Austin Barney transferred his ownership of the Stanley-Whitman House to the Farmington Village Green and Library Association. FVGLA intended that the Farmington Museum, as the Stanley-Whitman House was then known, would be "used [as] a museum or [for] educational purposes." The Barney family later donated $35,000 to a fund supporting the museum. The Farmington Museum originally housed an array of Indian artifacts and colonial antiques mostly collected by former owner Katherine Barney.
  In 1960 the Stanley-Whitman House was designated a National Historic Landmark. Over a twenty-year period beginning in the 1970s, museum administrators reevaluated the documentary history, mission, interpretation, and even the name of the historic house.  A committee led by historian Abbott Lowell Cummings, with other historians and museum professionals, looked more closely at architectural elements of the house, uncovering evidence of both original structures and more recent alterations. Researchers revisited primary source material, both confirming and refuting previously-held beliefs about the house and its occupants.  A Yale University-led archaeological team examined the area surrounding the historic house, unearthing animal bones, pipe fragments, coins, and hundreds of other objects. The museum committee also discussed how to best interpret the 291-year-history of the Stanley-Whitman House.  They decided to furnish the historic house to reflect two time periods: 1725 to 1735, when the Smiths occupied the house, and 1736–1772, when the first generation of Whitmans resided there.
  The house is now marketed as a "living history center and museum that teaches through the collection, preservation, research, and dynamic interpretation of the history and culture of early Farmington. Programs, events, classes, and exhibits encourage visitors of all ages to immerse themselves in history by doing, acting, questioning, and engaging in Colonial life and the ideas that formed the foundation of that culture."
  Besides offering docent-led and self-guided tours of the historic house, visitors to the Stanley-Whitman House can participate in adult and children's programs, cooking demonstrations, walking tours, and other special events.  Visitors can also view modern artist installations in the Speare Classroom, conduct genealogical or local history research in the Kenneth Johnson Research Library, walk around the grounds, and enjoy the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century reproduction flower, plant, and herb gardens.
caption: Stanley-Whitman House in 1967
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